Buttopia
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Chapter 54: Fortify Dave!
🕑 Added 2024-12-20 00:00:07 +0000 UTC“So how come I didn’t read any of this in the archives?” I asked. Despite the multitude of books I’d managed to read, it seemed like there were always missing portions of information.
“Because one of the ways the archives skirted around any big faction coming down hard on it was to mostly focus on theories and opinions when it came to core development. Didn’t ya ever think to wonder why there were a billion books on different recipes from Spiral worlds and only a handful on advanced core structures? It ain’t like this stuff doesn’t exist and isn’t known by people across the Spiral. It’s that those with the power like to keep the power for themselves. They don’t want a rival to have a chance at anything they can avoid sharing,” Mel said. These were things I had constantly wondered about and had mostly started to think they were primarily tied to the Arena secrets, but apparently, they were part of a cold war. Was it a cold war? I suppose I can’t say that one for sure, either.
“So then, how much did I learn that was accurate within the archives?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t filled my head with nonsense.
“Elody was a great librarian, so anything ya learned as a fact from the books was prolly a fact, but remember, this was a library available to most peoples. So there just happened to be all kinds of core advancement shit that they didn’t keep there. I’m sure many a master librarian has pushed those bounds, and Elody herself I know, was considering a massive expansion, likely a big part of why she got removed. The good news, though, is ya still got me. The bad news is I ain’t any good at the theoretical shit ya got going on, but when it comes to the reality of core advancement, as long as we stay on topics I can talk about, I’m better than that library ever was,” Mel said gruffly. It was one of the few times I had heard the man toot his own horn so blatantly that I believed it. This pushed other matters to the forefront.
I understood why the brothers were helping me, they weren’t in all that different of a situation than I was. I even understood Elody’s help. I was a stranger in a strange world but also a bit of a fellow academic and someone who had met one of her personal heroes. I may not be the best at socializing or even people reading, but if you hammer me over the head long enough, some things do eventually come through. So then, why was Mel so determined to help? He had talked about trusting him, and while he had given many reasons to do so, I still found it hard without at least some concrete answer to his future plans. That said, if he refused to give one what could I even do? Could I get home without him?
“Mel, before I do this, I need some real answers here. Why are you really helping me so much? Not the bullshit answer involving Cecile and Elicec. Why specifically me?” I asked, my tone almost demanding an answer this time.
Mel sighed loudly before he started talking. “Because yer a chance for something to change, Dave. I really can’t tell you everything, and as I said, ya gotta trust me blindly on a lot right now, but I promise I won’t screw ya over. I’m working towards what I think is the only way to keep you and yer family alive and safe, and I’m using a lifetime of built-up resources in the background to even give us this chance. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, I really am, but there is just so much broken in the Spiral that it would take a lifetime to even get you to the level of fully understanding the universal politics that got us to where we are now. Think about what I just told you about the archives and try to put that into a big-picture context. You’ve already realized there’s no keeping Earth out of the Spiral. There’s just getting the orcs off of it and then dealing with the fallout. I’m doing everything I can to help us there, and I mean us. I’d thrown myself in with ya for the long haul, so if that helps with the trust at all, consider it,” Mel explained. The whole time he talked I didn’t see a single glare, just a pleading look. I don’t know if he was trying to manipulate me or not, but as so many times before, as of late, I decided I was going to trust him. I knew that eventually, the blind trusting of people was going to bite me in the ass, but for now, I went with my gut. Mel was a friend and he was helping, so that meant it was time for some changes to my core.
“Alright, I believe you, I think. So what do I do next, just do the core fortification? If my levels are gone what happens to my skills and attributes? If they just reset too, won’t that hurt me a lot?” I asked, confused about the benefits of upgrading my core.
“So it’s kinda weird the way it works. Not exactly intuitive. Everything you’ve unlocked in a mana orb stays unlocked, even things you wouldn’t meet the requirements for anymore, but the ranks all drop back to the initial one. What’s important is that means they stay usable. The same applies to any other skill or attribute. Now, with attributes, it gets even weirder. Despite the drop, yer body won’t initially regress; your core will keep pushing enough energy to hold you ya where yer at as long as you keep training. If ya go long enough without getting those attribute caps back to where they were, though, you’ll start to experience some weird mana channel issues. I have no idea if your backlash resistance will apply to them or not, but at the very least, don’t risk keeping that one under its cap for long. Ya can test the rest all ya want, but be prepared for some debilitating pain across the parts of your body tied to the attribute. As for why to do this? Well, a stronger core and to push you further, with higher levels, higher attributes and skill caps, more energy to your mana orbs to increase them faster, and most important of all, fighting higher graded cores. Ya aren’t going to be able to stick with only fighting monsters and dungeon cores forever. Sooner or later, yer gonna have to fight another person on the System’s path, and when that happens, core ranks can strongly come into play. Once we get you a real class, things are gonna get even more confusing, but if you really want me to, I’ll try to explain here, but I promise it will be easier understood once ya got the class locked in,” Mel said, dumping a ton of information on me. Most of which, to my surprise, I understood. I guess I was finally learning how the Spiral functioned somewhat.
“Okay, well, you kind of had me at higher limits. So that’s how I really start to use up all these points,” I said, finally really understanding how I wouldn’t always have the same excessive extra amounts I do now.
“Good, now I just gave you the basics, and what I mean by that is those are the only hard rules. Yer core can do some weird shit when it fortifies itself. So go ahead and start it and tell me any other changes that it alerts you to,” Mel said. What possibilities were there for core changes? Was it possible for my affinity to be altered? If there weren’t any real rules, the only way to find out was to press forward. It was too bad at the danger level knowledge worlds presented. I’d have loved to put Earth on that path if I had any say once it was safe. Then, the people coming into this after me could actually learn how things worked instead of stumbling around in the dark so much.
“Alright, time to get it over with, I suppose,” I said before pulling the menu back up and selecting the new fortify option. Instantly, everything around me seemed to vanish into a void, and I could sense nothing beyond the System menu in front of me. It was similar to a simulation but totally empty. It was not a pleasant experience.
“Would you like to fortify your core? Note that once the process has begun, it cannot be stopped, and any attempt to do so may result in irreparable harm towards your brain,” the Sytem’s voice said. Apparently, I didn’t get to do this part in silence.
“Yes, I understand the risks and won’t be turning back,” I said, not sure I actually did understand them, but what could I do?
“Core fortification process underway. Would you like to evolve your affinity?” the System asked. I had no idea if I did or not. Mel hadn’t mentioned this possibility and I didn’t know if this was because of how different changes could be or if he didn’t know about it. So far my affinity hadn’t done anything I was aware of, so I figured I may as well.
“What does that mean?” I asked before just accepting.
“Your affinity will unlock its first ability,” it answered.
“And what is an affinity ability?” I asked, pushing for more information.
“A refinement of your affinity; any specifics are unknown until it has happened,” the System answered, giving me no new real information. I really hated that, but it did sound potentially useful.
“Alright might as well,” I said.
“Affinity evolution underway. All attributes and skills ranks have been been ingested by your core. Your new core grade is now E. Your core affinity has gained the ability Mana Tinkering.” Mel was right I could feel a better flow of energy in my core. This had almost certainly been the right move. A message box had also popped into my view as the System spoke.
Predicting an affinity evolution is more or less impossible. All current studies into it have failed to produce reliable results. The ideas that your mana skills, regular skills, or attributes guide what the evolution is or even if it happens have had no conclusive proof. Even the affinity itself isn’t guaranteed to explain what the evolution is. Sometimes, people gain abilities; sometimes, their affinity morphs into something totally new. The only sure thing I’ve found is that affinity evolutions are upgrades. I have yet to see one that became worse.
Gastronil’s answer to the question “What is an affinity evolution?” on his application to work with Karlinovo.
Dave’s stats before fortification.
Comments
Aureus
So Dave just went and prestiged
